The year 2017 saw a total of 90 known orbital launch attempts from seven nations and space ports in eight different countries. 2017 had the second most orbital launch attempts of any year in the current century, short of 92 launches in 2014 and showing a slight increase from 2016 that had 85 known launch attempts.

India’s GSAT-19 satellite reached a near-Geostationary Orbit on Saturday after a re-planned orbit-raising campaign that was necessitated by a slightly off-target delivery of the high-throughput communications satellite by the new GSLV Mk. III launch vehicle.

India took another major step in the country’s space program on Monday, successfully demonstrating an all-up orbital mission with their new Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark III heavy-lifter that is envisioned to end Indian reliance on foreign launches vehicles.

The Indian Space Organization launched its Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark III from the Satish Dhawan Space Center at 11:58 UTC on June 5, 2017 on the rocket’s first orbital demonstration mission.